Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei has responded to criticism that his public statements on artificial intelligence risks have been overly negative and contributed to a backlash against the industry. In a recent exchange with investor Gavin Baker, Amodei defended his messaging, saying it has been balanced between risks and benefits.

Baker, who aired his views on the All-In podcast and on X, argued that warnings from AI leaders like Amodei have fueled public opposition, particularly against data centers. He suggested that Amodei, as the head of a major AI company, should be a more positive advocate for the industry. Baker also claimed that Amodei has “lost the argument” on AI regulation, referencing Anthropic’s support for policies like a California bill that would impose transparency requirements on large AI companies.

In his response, Amodei rejected the notion that his messaging has been disproportionately negative. He pointed to his essay “Machines of Loving Grace,” which he said was written to present a more inspiring vision of AI’s potential to improve the world. While acknowledging that public sentiment toward AI is negative and that this is a significant problem, Amodei disagreed that this is primarily caused by warnings from AI leaders.

Instead, Amodei described the issue as “fundamentally a crisis of trust.” He suggested that ordinary people are skeptical of companies, governments, and the tech industry, suspecting that they are “cooking up some new way to screw them over.” He noted that this distrust has been building for decades, with the current AI backlash being “just the latest iteration of it.”

Amodei also addressed the criticism that AI companies have not delivered on their promises. He admitted that the most accurate criticism of Anthropic and other AI firms is that they have not yet fulfilled their big promises to benefit the world. He said this is “totally on us” and is the criticism that should be made, rather than focusing on messaging and marketing. He added that Anthropic is working to address this.

On the topic of regulation, Amodei pushed back against Baker’s framing of a “false choice” between unregulated distribution of AI and concentrating power through regulation. He rejected the Silicon Valley shorthand that regulation always leads to regulatory capture and concentration of power. He noted that many people outside the tech bubble view regulation as a way to constrain corporate power and protect ordinary people. He said Anthropic has always been careful in making policy proposals, aiming to slow down frontier AI companies while benefiting smaller competitors.

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